1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to a wheel chair storage apparatus for storing a wheel chair to be used by a physically handicapped on the roof of a car such as an automobile.
2. Related Background Art
Conventionally, when the user of a wheel chair drives a car such as automobile, he or she has to fold the wheel chair and put it on the rear seats, the loading platform or the passenger seat of the car. A wheel chair is significantly heavy and bulky and hence such an operation of folding and loading the wheel chair is a heavy work to be done. To avoid this problem, various apparatus for storing a folded wheel chair in a storage space provided on the roof of a car such as automobile have been proposed to date. Japanese Utility Model Application Laid-Open No. 3-12598 is one of such proposals.
Japanese Utility Model Application Laid-Open No. 3-12598 describes a wheel chair storage apparatus of a car that comprises a case main body arranged on the roof of the car to store a folded wheel chair, a rail unit arranged in the case main body and including the first, second and third rails that can be extended and retracted between the roof and the door of the car accessible to the user of the wheel chair. The folded wheel chair is brought into engagement with the third rail that is located lowermost and then stored in the case main body by retracting the first, second and third rails.
However, a wheel chair storage apparatus as disclosed in the above Japanese Utility Model Application Laid-Open No. 3-12598 is accompanied by the following problems.
(1) Since the wheel chair storage apparatus comprises a plurality of rails that have to be extended and retracted when storing the wheel chair, the apparatus has a rather complex configuration to make it liable to become out of order and costly. Additionally, in the case of a one-box type car that stands high, an apparatus of a different version comprising four or more than four rails may have to be installed and therefore the user may be forced to buy a new apparatus when he or she buys a new car. In other words, the applicability of the apparatus is limited. PA0 (2) The operation of folding the wheel chair and bringing it into engagement with the rail unit is an outdoor operation. Therefore, not only the wheel chair but also the owner of the wheel chair itself get wet when it rains. This is by no means desirable to the health of the wheel chair owner. The provision of a water-proof sheet for protecting the wheel chair owner and the wheel chair is, however, not feasible because of the configuration of the apparatus. PA0 (3) Because the wheel chair storage apparatus comprises a rail unit including a plurality of rails that can be extended and retracted, it is rather bulky. In other words, the location at which it can be fitted to the car is limited and may be remote from the door accessible to the user of the wheel chair to provide a great disadvantage for the operation of storing the wheel chair.